Show me the moon

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."-- Anton Chekhov

That is a nice way to say: “Show, don’t tell.” Of course, sometimes that is easier said than done. And using the moon in imagery? That can push us right into clichés. But, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t some beautiful images built with the moon; let’s check out a few:

Of course, let’s start with Matsuo Bashō:

“Moon-daubed bush-clover -

ssh, in the next room

snoring prostitutes.”

In this brief poem, the moon softly lights the scene. The poet also moves us from the moon, to clover, to the room, and the sound of snoring prostitutes. It’s a great juxtaposition as well, giving us the beautiful night and some not so beautiful sounds

I was stunned by these lines from the Poem “Six Songs for Tamar” by Yehuda Amichai:

“The moon fits the line of your cheeks,

your breasts—the line of mine.”

I don’t even know how to add to that. It is such a lovely image, and again, it’s an image that moves through space: the moon, Tamar, her cheeks, her breast, his cheeks.

And this image from Joy Harjo’s “Letter From the End of The Twentieth Century”:

“As we near the concrete plains of O’Hare, I imagine the spirit of Rammi’s friend at the door of his mother’s house, the bag of dreams in his hands dripping with blood. His mother’s tears make a river of red stars to an empty moon.”

Now, we see the moon staring down on a tragic scene. The sorrow, the pain, and the moon staring down finds itself empty as well.

But, if you really want to be shown some crazy beautiful imagery using the moon, pick up the short story “The Distance of the Moon” by Italo Calvino. It is one of the best pieces of Magical Realism ever written, a lovely tale that follows a group who pull themselves up to the moon to collect Moon Milk. It’s full of lust and desire, unrequited love, and the moon…

““…when she was full—nights as bright as the day, but with a butter-colored light—it look as if she was going to crush us; when she was new, she rolled around the sky like a black umbrella blown by the wind; and when she was waxing, she came forward with her horns so low she seemed about to sick into the peak of a promontory and get caught there.”

The point isn’t really about the moon, but imagery, about taking the reader into the piece with you, wrapping them in your imagination and then letting them build their own. Each of these examples show completely different moods and emotions. In each one, the writer didn’t tell you the moon was shining: they showed you.